The Play's the Thing
by Narcoleptic Valencian
Summary: The middle school's production of Romeo and Juliet takes a turn for the unexpected. Fate, as we know it, is about to change.  -Note to self: self-editing is not betaing. Tweaked for bad flow and general idiocy.-


**The Play's the Thing**

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Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: Not to worry, I am still working on Masala Chai. It's just that school has started, and I find myself sometimes too stressed to come home and write something dark and angsty. So, I've decided to simultaneously build on a much more lighthearted story.

Also, why is it that you never realize some grievously mortifying error in a work until after you've uploaded it? Edited, so that I can sleep better at night.

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**Chapter One: Winning**

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Yaya wins by sheer, stupid luck.

She will later call it her indomitable will, coupled with an arsenal of the world's most lethal thumb wrestling maneuvers. It isn't until much, _much_ later that she calls it fate. But when Kagome calmly pins her finger under an indestructible grasp of steel, Yaya knows that she's pretty much done for.

_One!_

Her muscles are taut.

_Two!_

Adrenaline fills her ears with the buzz of rushing blood.

_Three!_

She's butchered her bloody path all the way to the top. She can't lose now dammit. But for all her effort to free her contending digit, Kagame is brutal and inescapable. It is as if her thumb has been nailed down, and the more she struggles, the more that sinking feeling in her stomach grows which tells her that she looks like an idiot.

_Four!_

She gazes, desperately, into the depths of those vacant, unblinking, puppy-like eyes. The rocky precipice of defeat loomed ominously within them.

_Five!_

_Six!  
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That's it, it's hopeless. She'll never be anything close to Romeo. Girls like Hikari could never like her. She's too roguish and feminine to look the part, and as if being beaten out by a cardboard cutout on a horse wasn't degrading enough, now she's getting schooled in front of a big crowd of classmates by a little kid with a teddy bear. The next thing she knows, she'll be sixty-five and alone in a great big house somewhere starving to death with a broken ankle because she has no friends and nobody loves her.

_Seven!_

She is doomed. Her life is over. Goodbye cruel world. Suffocating in the vast and empty greyness of her inevitable future, Yaya feels her knees start to buckle.

But then, a movement catches her eye.

As if crumbling under a laughing attack from someone's unwittingly hilarious melodrama, Oshibaru teeters slightly, before slipping from the top of her young opponent's head.

The stuffed bear is graceful in its unassuming freefall before hitting the floor with a tiny bounce.

In the timespan of a hummingbird's wingbeat, deathly silence hangs uncertainly in the air.

The first year's grip on her hand slackens as she uses her other hand to retrieve the fallen toy.

With the speed of a shark, Yaya retaliates.

The spectators explode into screams of incredulity and renewed excitement as the count starts anew.

"The match, the match!" Kizuna cries from close by, waving her arm to get Kagome's attention, but it is a lost cause, as the Lulim finalist quietly admonishes her inanimate companion to be more careful.

Moments later, the victor is declared, and fate, for one Romeo Montague, is sealed.

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Tsubomi wins by brute force.

To her credit, she is not yet at an age where she plans these things out in advance. She is not a manipulator. She just reacts.

Thus, when Yaya claims the role of Romeo, Tsubomi is too busy imagining her senpai's full, smirking lips reciting classical verses of romance to remember to appear unenthusiastic, or to hatch a quick scheme to cement the other leading role for herself.

She would never admit it, but for all her seriousness, she is very much susceptible to impulse. And Yaya has the infuriating ability to bring out her impulsive side with seemingly minimal effort.

Ever since the first week she set foot on Astraea Hill, she has been under the dark haired girl's influence. Though it is actually Hikari who had first caught her eye.

Every year, the Saintly Choir hosts a voice recital to welcome the first years and transfer students of Spica. The other objective is, of course, recruitment. Having enrolled in Spica mostly for its rigorous academics and world-renowned sports programs, Tsubomi shuffled into the cathedral with a feeling of polite disinterest.

It was an hour into the show when a girl who looked little older than her sang the first note of the compulsory Ave Maria. Drawn in by the most pure and soft voice she had ever heard, Tsubomi focused on the stage and found herself riveted.

Clad in a modest white sundress, bathed in light, the second year seemed lighter than air. The stage shone around her like a halo, rendering her soft blonde hair almost white. Every note, clean and pure, lingered briefly against her eardrums before evanescing to the heavens.

Tsubomi sat forward in breathless awe. Music had never interested her much. And yet, this girl seems like the very essence of faith and joy. It was hard to imagine that anyone in the world would not be moved by her presence.

What was power, if not this?

All too soon, the music faded and the song drew to a close. And then, the spell was gone, and she was just another very pretty, very delicate girl. The blonde seemed to shrink in on herself as she graced the audience with a shy, wavering smile. With a slight but sincere bow, she exited the stage. Tsubomi was left feeling incredibly self-conscious of her own brash, less than lady-like personality.

For the first time that night, she flipped open the event program. _Ave Maria_ was pretty far down on the list, but when she found it, Tsubomi could not contain a grin.

Hikari. It was a name that suited the blonde. One that she'd have no trouble remembering when she finally got to meet her.

After committing it to memory, she customarily perused the next item on the list. _St__ä__ndchen (Leise Flehen Meine Leider)._ Another piece from Franz Schubert, though the name was strange and... well, very German.

She waited for Nanto Yaya to approach the microphone. And when she did, Tsubomi couldn't help but stare.

Hair blacker than charcoal fell like silk to her waist. Her gaze was confident and knowing. The curves of her dark maroon evening gown revealed a figure on the cusp of adolescence, and yet there was something about her that commanded Tsubomi's attention.

The Sister at the piano began a slow, melodious tune. It was serene, beckoning, not entirely unfamiliar.

Yaya drew in a breath.

Half a second later, all thoughts stopped.

Where Hikari was innocence, Yaya was... something she could not describe. Tsubomi drank in that figure, that strong voice, that darkly beautiful countenance, her face burning from a guilty pleasure she could not explain. Each controlled crescendo sank beneath her skin and ignited something deep within her veins. Minutes later, when the music stopped, Yaya, too, bowed. It was deeper, with a graceful flourish of her arm. She did not smile. Tsubomi followed each movement with her eyes as she glided off the stage, her chest unbearably tight with a feeling she could not name.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Before she knew it, the Sister stood before the audience. Thanked them for their attention. Welcomed them once again to Spica. Reminded them to see her in her study if any of them were interested in joining the choir.

Tsubomi was.

"We still need the rest of the cast," someone standing next to her observes, pulling the pink-haired girl out of her memories.

"Who's playing Juliet?" Chiyo asks.

A skinny arm is thrust up from the opposite end of the room. "Me!" A voice she recognizes as Remon's yells.

It takes her only a fraction of a second to react.

"No," Tsubomi says, pushing herself forward until she stands at the center of the crowd.

A murmur ripples through the crowd, and Remon emerges moments later. "What? But you're in Spica too."

Tsubomi folds her arms, unimpressed. "And Carmen's lead role went to Lulim."

"It's a balanced cast," Remon defends.

Tsubomi knows. But even if she'd only casually entertained the idea of playing Juliet before, a stubborn, impulsive part of her is now unwilling to negotiate. "Riiight."

Remon's hands goes to her hips, clearly starting to get frustrated. "Rokujou-sama said so herself."

"It's just politics." Tsubomi counters with a shrug. "What use is being an important character if you have less than ten lines? We all know it's Miator and Lulim's show."

"That's not true."

"Oh? And how would you know?"

"Alright, stop." Yaya steps between them, palms out in a placating gesture even as her lips curve upwards in a condescending smirk. "I'm sure we're all well aware of how pretty my face is, but before anyone starts launching a thousand ships, let's try to discuss this like civilized people."

Tsubomi feels her eyes narrow and her face redden. Why does Yaya feel the need to mock everything she does? "Oh that's mature," she snaps. "Leave it to you to think that this is all about you."

"No." The older girl smiles meanly. "So stop being so defensive, or I'll start thinking it might be."

The pink-haired girl clamps her mouth shut and glares down at the floor, trying to will the heat out of her face. It doesn't quite work.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Remon looks to Kizuna for support. The latter then nervously clears her throat and draws in a deep, deep, deeeep breath.

"While it may be true that Carmen's role went to Lulim and Don José's role went to Miator, which should technically entitle Spica to special claims to other roles, this is mostly balanced out by Rokujou-sama's decision to hand every other important role to Spica, but not entirely, because the middle school play last year and the year before both had leading roles taken by Lulim, while Shizuma-sama of Miator played Madam Butterfly last year, though depending on where you're coming from, you could either argue that it is more important for Spica to be closer to the spotlight this year due to past history, or that it is more important to have balanced casts across the board this year, which means that the role of Juliet should go tooo..."

There is a moment of anticipatory hestitation where everyone else's expression teeters somewhere between amazement and confusion.

Finally, Remon pipes up, eyes hopeful behind her glasses. "Lulim?"

"Either." Kizuna corrects apologetically.

Tsubomi stares at Remon, who stares at Tsubomi staring at her. All she gets from Kizuna's impressive display of lung capacity is that they are locked in a stalemate. And there's nothing Tsubomi can think of to say that would tilt the logic in favor of Spica.

Internally, she kicks herself. She should have seen this coming and prepared herself better. Any moment now, someone will suggest an arm wrestling match or something to that effect. Tsubomi is not particularly strong, or quick-witted or lucky. But neither does she want to give up the role.

So, the first year turns to the one thing she knows she can count on, and smiles happily. Remon blinks, confused.

"Great," Tsubomi chirps, grabbing the master list from an unsuspecting Yaya and scribbling her name down next to Juliet's. "I won't disappoint you."

Remon looks affronted, and many of the girls start murmuring among themselves in scandalized tones. Tsubomi doesn't care.

Finally, the second year opens her mouth to protest. "Now wait just a minu - "

The younger girl easily steamrolls over her, her voice purposefully loud. "Let's get on with this shall we? There's a whole cast to assign and we don't have all day. Who's playing the nurse? Anyone? Anyone?"

"You can't just - "

"Remon-san! How nice of you to volunteer." Tsubomi scribbles her name down.

"E-ehhhh? But -"

"Ooh, what about Mercutio? Now there's a nice, clever role. Anyone up for making lots of puns – hey!"

"I'll take it from here, thank you," Yaya interrupts, deftly stealing back the paper and holding it out of Tsubomi's reach. Mission accomplished, the pink-haired girl simply folds her arms and lets her senpai handle the rest.

Her shoulders slump in exasperation when she realizes that her kouhai had written down the names in permanent marker, on the master cast list that they're supposed to turn in to the director in less than an hour. With the expectation that they would perform the casting in a calm and dignified matter as befitting of well-bred young women, the Sister in charge had only given them one copy.

"Remon-san?" Her gaze is apologetic.

As if knowing the inevitable, the bespectacled girl gazes back at her with a pout.

"Would you be okay with playing the nurse?"

Remon thrusts her lip out even further as Kizuna puts a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Alright."

And thus, one Juliet Capulet receives a permanent level up in damned stubborn attitude.

xxxxx

Away from the focus of the clamoring group of girls, Kagome tilts Oshibaru's head in a thoughtful pose.

"This will make for an interesting production. What do you think, Oshibaru?"


End file.
